Chinese Plans for Bateera Airport

A Chinese company has proposed a $5 million project to transform al-Bateera military airport into a civil one, a local official in Missan said on Wednesday.

“The local government is currently studying a project put forward by CNPC, Total and Petronas, which invest in al-Halfaya oil field, to turn al-Bateera military airport into a civil one,” the head of the investment commission in the Missan provincial council, Muhsin al-Bakhati, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The company pins high hopes on the project, which it said would facilitate the transportation of its equipment to the oilfield.

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil had signed a contract with a CNPC-led consortium to develop al-Halfaya oil field as part of the second oil licensing round.